3Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, The First
Affiliated Hospital, Department of Laboratory Diagnostics, Harbin
150086, China

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received August 24, 2017; Revision received September 28, 2017
MicroRNAs are involved in many biological processes. Studying microRNA
function requires genetic strategies generating loss-of-function
phenotypes, especially in vivo. However, few microRNA
loss-of-function models have been reported in mice. Here, we generated
several transgenic mouse lines to stably and specifically knockdown
miR-483-5p by overexpressing microRNA sponges from CAG promoters. The
different levels of expression of microRNA sponges resulted in
different levels of mature miR-483-5p, which upregulated serum ALT/AST
in these transgenic lines. These results indicate microRNA sponges are
effective in mice in vivo, and they can be used in microRNA
loss-of-function research.
KEY WORDS: knockdown, loss-of-function, microRNA sponges,
transgenic mice